THE INNER-DISK AND STELLAR PROPERTIES OF THE YOUNG STELLAR OBJECT WL 16

We present kinematic evidence for a rapidly rotating circumstellar disk around the young stellar object WL 16, based on new high-velocity-resolution data of the ν = 2-0 CO bandhead emission. A Keplerian disk provides an excellent fit to the observed profile and requires a projected velocity for the CO-emitting region of ≈250 km s^-1 at the inner radius and 140 km s^-1 at the outer radius, giving a ratio of the inner to the outer radius of about 0.3. We show that satisfying the constraints imposed by the gas kinematics, the observed CO flux, and the total source luminosity requires the mass of WL 16 to lie between 1.4 and 2.5 M _⊙ . The inner-disk radius for the CO emission must be less than 8 R _⊙ .